Pentagon removes 17 officers from duty to launch its most powerful nuclear missiles

In an unprecedented action, the Air Force has removed 17 of its officers from a base at which they had the authority to control and launch nuclear missiles at the president’s command, thereby leaving the mission significantly understaffed.

The move comes after the Minot Air Force Base in North Dakota
performed poorly on an inspection, the Associated Press reports.
The 91st Operations Group, which is the unit that
oversees the nuclear missile launches, was deemed unprepared for
its mission, and received the equivalent of a “D” grade on launch
proficiency in March.

The unit almost failed the inspection completely, and was
accused of safety violations, showing disrespect to superiors,
questioning orders, and intentionally violating a rule that could
have compromised the launch codes that allow missiles to be
fired.

The group’s deputy commander said the group is suffering “rot”
within the ranks, and quietly removed 17 officers to undergo 60 to
90 days of intensive training to refresh their knowledge of the
job.

Lt. Col. Jay Folds announced the action in an e-mail sent to the
unit, in which he pledged to “crush any rules violators” and
said that “we are, in fact, in a crisis right now.”

“We are breaking you down, and we will build from the ground
up,” Folds added.

These officers were responsible for 24-hour watch over the
nuclear force, standing ready to launch intercontinental ballistic
missile at any moment if the president orders them to do so. The
unit is made up of a total of 150 workers, 11 percent of which are
now absent, leaving the nuclear launch site significantly
understaffed.

The order to strip 17 officers from their duties is
unprecedented and the most extensive action the base has taken, Lt.
Col. John Dorrian, an Air Force spokesman, told CNN. The base
sidelines a small number of launch officers every year, but has
never before released this many.

Additionally, an 18thofficer is facing possible
disciplinary action for purposefully breaking a missile safety rule
that could have compromised the missile launch codes. It remains
unclear what duties, if any, this officer will have if he is
penalized.

Bruce Blair, who served as an Air Force ICBM launch control
officer and now works as a researcher at Princeton University, told
AP that the problems at the Minot Air Force Base – including the
poor inspection – are likely a result of the decreased importance
of the nuclear mission since the Cold War.

“The nuclear air force is suffering from a deep malaise
caused by the declining relevance of their mission since the Cold
War’s end over 20 years ago,” he said. “Minuteman launch
crews have long been marginalized and demoralized by the fact that
the Air Force’s culture and fast-track careers revolve around
flying planes, not sitting in underground bunkers baby-sitting
nuclear-armed missiles.”

And this malaise appears to have affected the quality of work at
the Minot base for years. In 2008, a Pentagon advisory group report
found a “dramatic and unacceptable decline” in the Air
Force’s commitment to the nuclear mission. That same year, former
Defense Secretary Robert Gates fired a number of top civilian and
military leaders for grave errors, including a bomber’s accidental
flight across the US while armed with nuclear-tipped missiles.

After marginally passing the March inspection, the Air Force
publicly called it a “success”, but stripped the 17 officers from
their duties behind closed doors, in an attempt to address its
latest dangerous slip-ups.